Mike Piazza Rumors

Odds and Ends: Pokey, Lowe, Boss

Before you fire up the grill, check out these links. Dayn Perry has an enjoyable series at Baseball Prospectus called Mock Blockbuster. He proposes trades that would benefit both teams. His latest: Greg Maddux and Brian Giles for Jordan Schafer. Rays Index wonders whether Eric Hinske or Gabe Gross could be expendable once Willy Aybar returns. Joe Capozzi remembers Mike Piazza's five game stint as a Marlin. Pokey Reese sighting! Ned Colletti told struggling free-agent-to-be Derek Lowe the Dodgers aren't slamming the door on him coming back. The Red Sox signed an Australian teen named Boss Moanaroa. Athletics Nation chats...   Continue Reading

---

Mike Piazza Retires

Catcher Mike Piazza has decided to retire. I thought he had a little bit left in the tank as a possible DH this year, but it seems that teams did not agree. Piazza finishes with a .308/.377/.545 career line in 19 seasons. He mashed 427 home runs and is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Dodgers or Mets cap? Marlins?   Continue Reading

---

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Johnson, Bonds, Piazza

So far during the 2008 regular season, 28 players have either been DFA'd or released. At the same point last year, that list only included 14 players. In the past four seasons, only 2006 (22) had more than 14 players DFA'd or released this early in the season. This will be an interesting trend to watch the rest of this season and into the early portion of 2009. It appears to be an indication that teams are showing less patience to work trades for fringe players or teams may be placing higher premiums on prospects, unwilling to move even mid-level...   Continue Reading

---

Gammons' Latest: Crisp, Piazza, Wells

ESPN's Peter Gammons has a new blog post up. Peter Angelos might put the kibosh on any Brian Roberts trade. The Red Sox apparently wouldn't mind shipping Coco Crisp to the Cubs for Sean Gallagher and another prospect. The Sox might hope Crisp is the Cubs' backup plan to Roberts. Gammons says Tommy Lasorda suggested the Dodgers consider Mike Piazza as a backup catcher; they are not interested. It would've been fun to see Piazza finish his career in L.A. Another free agent, David Wells, "hasn't gotten a sniff from any team." It's only April 23rd, so desperation hasn't quite...   Continue Reading

---

Reds Interested In Piazza?

WEDNESDAY: Hal McCoy ran this one by Dusty, who implied that he hasn't had any discussions about Piazza specifically. Meanwhile Fay says the Reds have "mild interest" in his latest article. TUESDAY: This morning, Mark Healey of Gotham Baseball wrote that Reds manager Dusty Baker expected his team to sign free agent catcher Mike Piazza. Reds beat writer John Fay checked in on the rumor, and it he didn't get a denial. Whether or not Piazza is the target, the Reds are looking for catching help and/or a right-handed bench bat. Piazza, 39, hit .275/.313/.414 in 83 games last year....   Continue Reading

---

Odds and Ends: Schilling, Piazza, Howard

Tax day roundup... Some mild drama over whether Curt Schilling would consider pitching for the Yankees next year. He reiterated that he won't. It takes two to tango, anyway. Pedro Martinez may be out until June. Nelson Figueroa's chance continues, with Claudio Vargas as the backup plan. The Mets still have a solid rotation without Pedro. Mark Healey has heard rumblings that the Reds and Yankees are looking at Mike Piazza. Phillies Nation on why they would trade Ryan Howard. Bill Barnwell looks at the four trades Randy Johnson trades. I thought the Unit looked respectable last night, though it's...   Continue Reading

---

Rosenthal's Latest: DeWitt, Murton, Vargas, Hatteberg, Pena, Baek, Piazza

Ken Rosenthal has his latest column up at FoxSports.com. As usual he is not shy about stirring up rumors. Let's take a look at what the rumor-guru has to say: Rosenthal notes that the Dodgers will go with Blake DeWitt at third base who has never played a game above AA. This comes after the Dodgers failed to acquire either the Astros' Mark Loretta, who was unavailable and the Royals' Esteban German, who was too expensive. The Royals were asking for the Dodgers' third best prospect, shortstop Chin-Lung Hu. He indicates that the Padres and the Rays are pursuing Matt...   Continue Reading

---

Odds and Ends: Baldelli, Salcedo, Piazza, Rivera

Time for today's linkage. RotoAuthority looks for some fantasy baseball sleepers at second base. Rocco Baldelli has a rare muscle condition that does not allow his body to recover after a short workout. He'll hit the DL but won't retire. The Rays will likely decline his option but maybe they'll re-sign him at a lower price. The Indians are in the running for 16 year-old shortstop Edward Salcedo, but the Boras client remains unsigned. IGN has their own What Might've Been type series, and recently they took a look at the Mike Piazza trades of 1998. Haven't heard much on...   Continue Reading

---

Piazza Considering Two Teams

Mark Hale of the New York Post recently spoke to Mike Piazza's agent, Dan Lozano. Piazza may retire if he doesn't find the right opportunity, but he is currently mulling two interested teams. Lozano indicated that there is one team from each league under consideration. Japan is not a possibility for Piazza. Piazza, 39, hit .275/.313/.414 in 329 plate appearances last year as Oakland's DH. He was limited by a shoulder strain and bruised triceps. Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system has him at .255/.310/.426 in 294 PAs this year, a performance worth $675K. If Piazza gets a Major League deal, the...   Continue Reading

---

Rays Considering Bonds, Piazza, Lofton

12:28pm: Andrew Friedman denies it, calling the Bonds rumor a "non-story." They never even had a harmless internal conversation about Bonds, then? 11:27am: Japan is a legitimate possibility for Barry Bonds, but he may not have exhausted his MLB options just yet. Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times says the Rays have had internal discussions about signing Bonds (hat tip DRays Bay). At some point, one of the 30 teams is going to acknowledge that Bonds adds wins. Most fans have proven that they care more about wins than steroid use. Other considerations for the Rays include Mike Piazza...   Continue Reading

---

A's Sign Mike Piazza

It's official: the A's have signed Mike Piazza to be their designated hitter for 2007 at a price of $8.5MM for one year. Not a bad signing at all, as the A's continue to rotate quality hitters through their DH slot. Piazza turned 38 in September. He bounced back to a .283/.342/.501 line for the Padres. An even lighter load in the American League could mean an equally solid year   Continue Reading

---

Rosenthal: Phillies, A's After Piazza

A deal cannot be described as close, but Ken Rosenthal indicates that the A's appear to be the frontrunners for the services of catcher/possible DH Mike Piazza. If Oakland could snag him for the speculated price of one year and $7MM, they could have another fine free agent bargain. In addition, the A's have spoken to the agents for Alan Embree and Cliff Floyd. An Embree acquisition would allow Joe Kennedy to replace Barry Zito in the rotation   Continue Reading

---

Michael Barrett On The Block?

Here's an interesting tidbit buried in a Giants notes column: the Cubs "reportedly are open to the idea of trading catcher Michael Barrett for pitching help." I can't imagine they'll part with Barrett cheaply, but does that mean they are willing to go with Henry Blanco and, say, Geovany Soto behind the plate? One thing is for sure: there isn't much available on the free-agent market. I suppose that if Barrett brought a decent return, a Mike Piazza-Blanco offense-defense platoon might make some sense for the Cubs; beyond that, the options are a bunch of guys who will cost more..   Continue Reading

---

Piazza Signs With Padres

RotoWorld and other sources are reporting that the Padres have signed Mike Piazza to a one-year, $2MM deal with an $8MM mutual option for 2007. The Padres were one of a handful of teams that stood to better their club by acquiring Piazza or Bengie Molina. At this point, Molina should be begging the Angels to take him back, as they're one of the few teams he can help. The Padres probably added 2 or 3 wins by signing Piazza, so they're getting good bang for their buck. There's approximately zero chance they exercise that 2007 option. Here's a look..   Continue Reading

---

Piazza And Cubs A Match?

Surprising bit of info out of the Philadelphia Inquirer this morning courtesy of Todd Zolecki. According to the article: "The Phillies have talked with free-agent catcher Mike Piazza about a possible contract, a baseball source said, but it seems Piazza might have better options with the San Diego Padres or Chicago Cubs. Piazza could make a decision before the end of the week." The extent of Jim Hendry's talks, if any, with Piazza's agent (Dan Lozano) is unknown currently. For what it's worth, Lozano also represents Jacque Jones. My thoughts on this: if it was for $4MM or so for..   Continue Reading

---